The Girl from Jackson

When the TV was off and Gwen and Cas tucked themselves away in their rooms, Sam followed Dean wordlessly to the library. Dean poured two tumblers of the Men of Letters best aged scotch, and lifted his glass.

"To parenthood."

Sam took a small sip, letting the bitterness roll over his tongue, and contemplated the amber liquid, but there were no answers to his dilemma there.

"So." Dean pulled back a chair, propped up his feet, and fixed Sam with a stern eye. The expression was familiar. It was the one he always wore when filling their father's shoes. Dean was in parent mode. Sam's eyebrows rose. What now?

"Alright Sammy, I've been patient. Time to spill."

Sam sat his drink aside. This was a conversation he wanted to have sober. "What do you want to know?"

"I want to know about Gina. I want to know what happened between you two, and I want to know as much as I can about Gwen's grandmother before I call her."

Sam's stomach flipped. "You want to call her tonight?"

Dean pointed a finger at the ceiling. "The bunker keeps anyone from tracking the call. That's the only reason I waited this long. But no, I'll wait until morning. I think Gwen should be there when we call."

"Right." Sam nodded. His thoughts still spun, unsettled. While Dean sat in front of him, solid and decided. How did his brother know exactly what to do? "Do you want to try to send her home?"

Dean snorted. "I know better than that. If a kid doesn't want to go home, they'll just run away again." There was no malice in his tone, but after a pause he pinned Sam with his eyes. There would be no escape for his little brother. "So, what happened between you and Gina? How come you never told me about her?"

Sam quirked an eyebrow. "You don't remember Gina?"

Dean blinked. "No. Should I?"

"Our first day in town she offered you fifty bucks to make out with her in front of her mom."

Dean's face changed as the memory dawned, moving from confusion to happy to horror. "That was Gina's mom?" He rubbed the back of his head. "She beat me up with her purse. I think she had a lead weight in there."

"Or a gun," Sam said. A small one, like the one Gwen carried now.

Dean let out a huff, but couldn't argue the point. "Wait a minute." Dean's expression turned sour. "I made out with the same girl you-" His finger pointed to Sam, then drifted in the direction of the bedrooms where Gwen slept. "Wait, that can't be right. Your first time was with Jamie Bayer in Maryland. You were dazed for a week."

Sam allowed a small smile at the memory. "Jamie. No. She wasn't the first."

Dean paused, eyes narrowed, as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. "Gina was your first."

Sam nodded.

"Wait, she was my age. You were-were you fifteen?"

"Sixteen."

Dean looked as if he'd bitten into a lemon. Because he'd just learned something new about Sam? Or because he hadn't managed his first time until he was seventeen? Whatever it was, he wasn't sharing. "How'd you avoid the purse?" Dean he asked instead.

Sam rubbed his own head. "I didn't."

Dean sniggered like a teenager, threw back another belt of scotch, and slapped the glass on the table. "Alright, Sammy! Come on! Details!"

Sam shrugged. "There's not much to tell. Gina was my lab partner in chem class. She wanted to hang out. She taught me to a few things-we had fun. Then Dad finished his hunt and we left. I never saw her again."

"How did I miss this?"

"You had just graduated. You were hunting with Dad, I was pretty much on my own."

"Hm. And Gina's mom? What happened there?"

Sam winced. "She caught us making out in Gina's car. Dragged Gina home and made me walk." Sam could still remember that hike. He'd run away so fast he left his shirt and his shoes behind. At the time, he'd just been glad Dean wouldn't be at the motel to tease him. "That was the only time I met her, but she and Gina never really got along."

Dean scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I don't think that woman got along with anyone."

"She didn't have to, and she knew it. She owns half the town, and she's on the city council. That's why Gina couldn't date anyone else at school. They were all too terrified of Aggie."

"Aggie?"

"Agnes Torres."

"Huh." Dean swirled his glass, considering this new information. "What about Gina's dad?"

"Huh." Sam stared at his own drink. He hadn't even thought about that. "No idea. Her parents were divorced, but I think they would still hook up sometimes when her dad came to town. He was foreign."

"Mexican?"

Sam shook his head. "Don't think so. Don't know. But Gina spoke Spanish, and not the kind you learn in a textbook. Gina liked her dad, but then, she only saw him once or twice a year on the holidays."

Dean nodded. "Hard to hate someone on the holidays. Got his name?"

Sam shook his head. He had no idea who Gwen's grandfather was, or how to find him.

Dean drained his glass. "Alright. We'll call when Gwen's up. You know, so Aggie can have proof of life."

Sam's eyebrows shot to his forehead. "It's not like we kidnapped her."

Dean shook his head at Sam's naivete. Of course, an angry grandmother wasn't likely to see it that way. Especially a woman like Aggie Torres. Sam sighed, drained his glass, and followed Dean to bed.

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